Florida Gulf Coast University All-Atlantic Sun senior guard China Dow has been helping the sports information department when the men's team hosts games.

She watched in horror as her male counterparts — who like her team won the ASUN regular-season title — fell, 108-96, to second-seeded Lipsomb in the conference tournament championship game in sold-out Alico Arena on Sunday.

FGCU's women (28-4) host fourth-seeded Lipsomb (12-18) in an ASUN semifinal on Wednesday night, when Dow intends to make sure there is no replay of Sunday's shocker.

"It's March and things can flip easy," Dow said. "We're going to tighten up in practice and do the right things and move on and win this tournament."

The Eagles weren't enamored with their last outing, an 83-62 quarterfinal home win against eighth-seeded New Jersey Institute of Technology, which won just four games all season. The Eagles built a huge first-half lead, then slacked.

"Offensively, we were standing around and watching people go 1-on-1 and just expecting them to go 1-on-1, which is not our game," FGCU coach Karl Smesko said. "Defensively, we had too many times where we allowed penetration, allowed them to get in the paint."

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Despite an easy win, the Eagles weren't thrilled with their offensive movement in the ASUN quarterfinal win against NJIT. Here's an example of that. ((Video by Dana Caldwell/Naples Daily News)
By Dana Caldwell

Sixth-year FGCU senior guard Taylor Gradinjan went a step further.

"We got lazy and didn't do the things we were supposed to do," she said. "Now's not the time to be making those mistakes. We have to come together and fix it."

FGCU swept Lipscomb in the regular season, winning 68-54 in Nashville on Jan. 22 and 88-52 at home on Feb. 17.

"That's a good team," Dow said. "They played us good at their place. We fixed a couple of things. Communication is going to be really big in this game. They set a lot of ball screens, they shoot a lot of 3s. That's something we have to stop. It's kind of like guarding us. It's going to be a good matchup."

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FGCU coach Karl Smesko wants to see his Eagles play better defense and move the ball much more quickly than during the second half of Friday night's home rout against NJIT when they host Lipscomb on Wednesday night.(Photo: Christopher Dowell/Special to the Naples Daily News)

The Eagles lead the nation and already have set a program record with 380 3-point makes. FGCU is tied with DePaul (a team the Eagles have beaten) for the national lead with an average of 11.9 3-point makes per game.

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FGCU senior guard China Dow watched the men's team fall to Lipscomb at home during Sunday's ASUN tourney title game and is determined to not let such an upset happen to her Eagles that host the Bisons in an ASUN semifinal on Wednesday night.(Photo: Christopher Dowell/Special to the Naples Daily News)

Lipscomb's none too shabby, either. The Bisons average 8.0 made 3-pointers per game and in ASUN play have shot them better than FGCU, 36.5 to 35.9 percent.

"They're a very good team," said Gradinjan, a 1,000-point career scorer and one of the best shooters the Eagles have ever had. "If we give them opens 3s, they're probably going to put them in. We're going to have to stop that. They're all really good shooters, so there's a lack of help on drives. We'll have to make sure we at least make them inconsistent from 3. I think it will take a team effort and we'll actually have to play team defense against them."

That's the rub. If the Eagles flock to the 3-point line, it will open seams for Lipscomb senior guard Loren Cagle, who actually leads the conference in scoring (17.1 ppg) and assists (4.4). In 3-point marksmanship, Cagle's 39.3 percentage ranks behind only FGCU senior guard Jessica Cattani's 43.8.

The first-ever Bison to be named ASUN Player of the Year, Cagle lit up the Eagles for 20 points in the Bisons' 14-point loss in her hometown of Nashville. In the Eagles' win against Lipscomb in Alico Arena, they held her to 10 points as senior All-ASUN forward Rosemarie Julien shadowed her every move.

"We did a good job on her the last game to at least try to make her inefficient," Smesko said. "But she's a really good player. And the thing is, she's not the only good player, so you can't just load up. They've got too many shooters, so if you send too many people trying to stop her penetration, she's going to find them."

Unlike the men's ASUN tournament that played out in six days, the women's is spread out over nine days. The title game is Sunday afternoon. Even though they aren't stuck with travelling, the Eagles like the format.

"It can go a couple of different ways -- you can play your whole tournament in a weekend and the tournament will be over and then you''re just waiting for the Selection Show," Dow said. "With ours, it gives you days to prepare and days to recover instead of going back to back. I kind of like it because you do get that time to get ice packs and get your bodies prepared and get really prepared for a team, and I know that's big for the coaching staff, too."

Perhaps even bigger now that the women have seen what happened to FGCU's two-time defending ASUN tournament champion men.

"We just have to come together as a team and drive to the championship," Dow said.

No. 1 FGCU women (28-4) vs. No. 4 Lipscomb (12-18)

Radio: Fox Sports Radio (AM-1270 in Collier County, AM-1240 in Lee County, FM-105.9 in Naples, FM-94.1 in south Fort Myers and Estero, FM-103.3 in Cape Coral and North Fort Myers)

Series: FGCU leads 22-0

3-Point Shots

1) Finally fix that. In the 83-62 home quarterfinal win against NJIT, the Eagles built a big lead, then backed off. The offensive movement slowed and the defense softened. These have been season-long themes. FGCU can't afford that here against a team that Eagles coach Karl Smesko rightly called "dangerous."

2) Dominate the boards again. In the 88-52 home runaway from Lipscomb in the Feb. 17 matchup in Alico Arena, the Eagles outrebounded Lipscomb by a whopping 46-27. Second-chance points were 16-1. A replay here likely means an FGCU rout.

3) Keep on Cagle. Lipscomb senior guard Loren Cagle leads the ASUN in scoring (17.1 ppg) and in assists (4.4). She shoots 39.3 percent from behind the arc, which rates second in ASUN play. Cagle had 20 points in FGCU's 14-point win in Nashville. She had just 10 in the Eagles' home knockout of the Bisons. FGCU All-ASUN forward Rosemarie Julien, a senior, will mostly be covering her and she's very good defensively. If she can keep her in check, FGCU will win handily.